


Lights Will Guide You Home

by leonhart_17



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Family, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-19
Updated: 2014-04-19
Packaged: 2018-01-19 22:37:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1486654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leonhart_17/pseuds/leonhart_17
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Henry finds his way home after talking to Emma.  Post ep 3x15</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lights Will Guide You Home

None of it made any sense – leaving home to come here for a 'case' and then finding out that the father he'd never met was dead – but what did make sense to Henry Swan (for whatever reason) was wandering into Storybrooke's suburbs, such as they were, after his mother had left him in the B&B for the night. If she could stay out all night then so could he.

Something about turning on Mifflin Street felt right and he tucked his hands in his coat pocket as he shuffled along the sidewalk with his head down. Henry looked up only when his feet carried him almost out of habit up a walkway toward a house. Not just any house, either. His subconscious had led him toward the biggest house on the street.

A car turned onto the road and he put one hand up to shade his eyes from the headlights of the sleek silver Mercedes. It was an older car (his mom had taught him about cars) but it was well maintained and still looked good. It didn’t look good, him standing in a stranger's yard, particularly when the homeowner appeared to be driving the Benz that was pulling into the driveway only a dozen feet from where he stood. He wasn't afraid, though.

His mom's friend Regina Mills was frowning at him as she got out of her car but she looked concerned rather than angry. “Henry? What's wrong?”

He wasn't quite sure what to say, why he was even here at all, but Regina was moving before he could do more than blink and feel his lip tremble. He should have felt uncomfortable, wrapped up in a hug from a stranger, but the caring hold felt like home – safety and warmth. He was mortified when a strangled sob escaped but Regina only held him closer, whispering words he couldn't hear into his hair and swaying him lightly. “I'm sorry,” he choked out, grateful when she didn't release him.

“Come in,” she requested softly. “I have cocoa.”

Henry blinked, too relieved by the offer to wonder or care how she knew that cocoa was his favorite. “Thank you.”

Regina had left her car running in her haste to get to him and he took the opportunity to wipe his eyes while she retrieved her keys and shut her car door. Her arm slipped over his shoulders when she returned, something that bugged him when his mom did it because she liked to mess up his hair right before school, but he merely sighed and leaned into the Mayor.

The front room was neat and clean, the atmosphere inside the house almost chilly. “Let me just,” Regina muttered, taking his coat and her own and hanging them in the closet just inside. Henry had already toed off his shoes before she turned back, lining them up neatly on the wall. “Oh.” The exhalation was soft but he looked up to see Regina blink and shake herself slightly. “Thank you, Henry.” In a move that surprised him she put her own heels next to his dirty sneakers, making her only a few inches taller than him. “Would you like to sit?”

The kitchen felt warmer and smelled like apples and Henry felt better when he slipped onto a stool at the island. He'd been expecting Swiss Miss but the Mayor pulled a pan out of the pantry and started heating milk and melting chocolate on the stove, humming softly to herself as she worked. “You don't have to – but thank you,” Henry said gratefully.

“It's nice to have y – someone here again,” Regina told him, smiling softly over her shoulder at him. “Do you want to tell me what has you so upset?” His face fell, the conflict clear, and she quickly offered, “You don't have to. Whatever you'd like, my dear.”

“It's not that – I feel like I can talk to you, but...”

“You don't know me,” stated Regina sadly, her own expression guarded.

“But I trust you,” Henry countered, his face earnest and confused. “I just – I don't know.” He sighed, shoulders slumped while his hands fidgeted in his lap. “I've only ever had my mom.” He missed the wince that crossed Regina's face. “But now we're here and it just feels like something else is missing.” Regina had to close her eyes, her hand faltering on the spoon she was stirring with at the stove. His shaky breath covered the sound of her own.

Fixing cocoa for them both, Regina sprinkled cinnamon over his but not hers and pushed the mug to him. “Would you like to go into the sitting room? It's a bit more comfortable.”

“Thanks,” Henry whispered. Regina led the way, taking a seat on one end of the couch rather than in either of the armchairs so he followed her lead and took the opposite side, one knee curled up on the cushion as he faced her. “This is really good,” he said after his first sip. Regina's smile was shy over the mug she held.

“Have you talked to your mo – to Emma about this?” she asked cautiously after an extended, though comfortable, silence. “She loves you, you know. Your mother loves you, Henry.” Regina could barely hold her face straight but had to say the words, just once in the midst of this mess, while she knew he was listening. Even if he couldn't understand. Even if it hurt worse than ripping her own heart out.

“I know she does,” he agreed mildly as he licked chocolate from his lip. “She's a good mom.” Regina was relieved even as it stung. Henry was starting to feel more comfortable, at home, and he started to stretch out on the leather couch. Regina didn’t seem to mind, so he leaned back against the armrest and bent his knees.

“I'm glad,” she told him warmly. “Did something happen today then?” Emma had sounded strange on the phone earlier but had said only that Rumpelstiltskin was alive.

Her face went slack when he said, “My dad died, I guess.” He shrugged, trying to convey how little it bothered him, but she knew better.

“Oh Henry.” It took every bit of strength she'd ever had not to reach out to him. She couldn't do nothing, however, and impulsively shifted closer. “I'm so sorry.”

“No need,” he denied, shaking his head as his brows furrowed. “I never met him. I didn't even know he's why we came here until my mom told me today. Something is missing, though.” He blinked in an effort not to cry, taking a bracing swallow of his cocoa while Regina tried to keep her heart from shattering in her chest.

“Come here,” she requested helplessly, opening her arms to him.

Henry put his half full mug on the floor as he sat forward and crawled into the Mayor's lap without a second thought. It shouldn't be instinctual like this, seeking comfort from this woman, but it just was. Her arms wrapped around him and he let his tears fall into her shoulder.

“I'm here, my prince,” Regina whispered, knowing that she shouldn't say things that would only confuse him, but he was here, in her arms, her son. He had come to her. She simply refused to sit there and not to try and soothe him. She stroked her fingers gently through his hair as he started to regain his emotional control. He didn't pull away from her though and Regina couldn't help leaning down to press a kiss to his head.

The shock was small, only affecting the two of them, but Regina's eyes were wide when Henry's head rose slowly, his brown eyes meeting her own. “Mom?”


End file.
